Mice on a SUV
by best with breadsticks
Summary: One-shot Mike is preparing to go to Bella's graduation party. He has a lot to think about and a lot to do, such as pick up the lovely Jessica. Honorable Mention in Novel Novice Twilight July-August Fanfiction Challenge


Author's Note: I don't like this story. I actually despise this story. I don't like it. I don't like it. I don't like it. Did I mention that I don't like this story? I returned to the Twilight fandom to finish writing this for a challenge and I don't like it. Anyway, I don't like it. This is supposed to Mike getting ready for Bella's graduation party in _Eclipse_. It's in Mike's point of view.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything _Twilight _related.

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Mike Newton

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There wasn't much that I could expect from this night. Except of course an awkward time of watching Cullen look protective, as he crept around Bella keeping an ever-watchful eye on her.

Am I the only one who takes notice to how completely and totally creepy this guy is? I mean seriously, he reminds me of a mother bear protecting its young as he narrows his eyes at me all the time. As if he has some sort of vendetta against me or something. I swear that if Bella doesn't open her eyes soon enough, then there's really no helping her. Cullen's either going to steal her away from the rest of the world…or eat her. I believe I'm also the only one who notices how he salivates around her. It's _creepy._

I sighed, pulling on the tie around my neck. Why did I have to tell my mother everything? You tell her that you're going to a party with friends, and she thinks that it's necessary to be entirely decked out. Complete with tie and everything. I looked more like I was going to a funeral than a graduation party. Luckily, I had tossed an extra pair of clothes in my SUV a few months ago, in case anything like this should occur.

"Mom," I called downstairs, "I'm heading out. I'm going to pick up Jessica, then head on over to the Cullen's. I'll see you in couple hours."

I bit my lip for a second, imagining Edward hanging all over Bella. Watching her like a hawk, waiting for his chance to pounce on her, and then who knows what will happen. I was sickened at the thought.

In more a of a quiet grumble, I added to my last statement, "Or less…"

I glanced over myself one last time before grasping my jacket and rushing out the door. I had to get going if I was going to make it to the party before the crowd got there. There was no way I was going to be able to speak to her if the whole crew was there.

I reached my SUV, opened the door and hopped in. It wasn't long before I was headed down the road towards Jessica's house. She didn't live too far away, so it didn't take a lengthy amount of time to arrive at her driveway.

Jessica – being the beauty queen that she is – was still dressing. She was always primping and pressing herself until she shown like the popular and shallow girl she was. Unlike Bella, Jessica had rules and regulations that kept her the way she was.

Yes, I couldn't say Jessica wasn't beautiful. Heck, I could even say she was gorgeous at times. But Bella… Bella was a rare type of girl. The type that didn't need much – if any -- enhancing to make her look stunning; she was just a natural beauty.

It was now that I decided that it was best time to change my clothes. I hid behind the open door of SUV, hoping no one would notice. Unless it was a good-looking girl, then maybe I'd make an exception.

Unfortunately – or fortunately, I'm not sure – nobody saw my switch. I hopped back into the driver's seat, and waited for Jess to get done. What took girls _so_ incredibly long to get ready? Was it really that hard to just thrown on some jeans and t-shirt and go?

Being alone left me time to ponder. I really didn't like when I was left alone. This is the reason I tried my hardest to be popular, well liked and an all-round great guy.

Okay, so I'm not the _best_ guy ever, but I'm sure better than most.

For example, that Jacob – I think that was his name. At a certain point I didn't really care, I just wanted him to back off Bella – kid. I could tell he had the same thing in mind as Cullen. He was just being nice to Bella – complimenting her and all – for one reason. To get in her pants. He can't see the natural beauty that she is.

I heard a rustle around the front door, which could only mean one thing. Jess was done and was going to be interrupting my thought session. Thank God.

Jessica grin widely as she left moved out of the front door of her house. She waved furiously at her father standing in the doorway, his shadowy outline waved back at her. She spun herself around and bounded toward my SUV.

She threw open the passenger's seat door, calling out her greeting as she did. "Hello, Mikey!" I always hated that nickname.

"Hey, Jess. You ready to go?" I motioned for her to get in the vehicle. She complied, pulling herself into the seat, quickly brushing the wrinkles from her dress.

"To Bella's party?" I nodded. "Well, I guess…if anything, it will be pretty cool to see the Cullen mansion. I can only imagine what it looks like in there. Those Cullens are loaded. I swear they must have rob somebody blind to get all that cash." She shook out her curled hair, closing the door once she was perfectly positioned.

"Yeah, it should be pretty cool to see their crib." I leaned back into my seat, checking to see if my mirrors were set correctly. I didn't like it when my mirrors weren't set correctly. My mother sometimes would take my car and moved them all around. It bugged me.

"So," Jessica inquired of me, "are we going? Or are we just going to sit in my driveway all night?" She crossed her arms, becoming increasingly impatient. Had we really been sitting here that long? I glanced over at the clock on the dashboard. 7:34. We had been sitting in the car a grand total of two minutes.

"Oh right," I quickly moved to turn the key in the ignition. "Let's go." I moved the car from park to drive and pressed down on the pedal. This was going to be a long drive, if Jess was already getting irritated.

I was right about the irritation, just not on Jessica's part. I'm pretty sure I was more irritated than her.

Jessica's mouth went a mile a minute as we drove up to the mountain top lair in which the Cullens lived. They probably picked such an obscure place because then could get away with their illegal activity without anyone seeing them. Plus being so far away from society allowed for Edward to indulge in his disturbing Bella fetish without anyone judging him. Well, except for me of course.

"So, I was thinking, now that we graduated, we should totally plan one day in which we all get together and just like chill or something. Maybe we could head on down to La Push for a day. Or maybe there's like something we could do at the mall. Or maybe we could…" I began to ignore her – or at least try.

I kept my eyes on the road, doing my best to drown her out still. But she was like that bunny that just didn't stop. You thought she was done, but she just kept going. And going, and going, and going, and going, and going…

I groaned and leaned my head towards the steering wheel.

"So, what do you think of that, Mike?" Jessica's voice cut through my concentration, when she said my name. I felt it necessary to respond. "Do you think that's a good idea or not? What was that sound?"

I was about to answer her first question, but I stopped myself, when I heard the second part. "What was what?"

"What was that sound?" She pointed towards the front of the car. It was then that my focus was changed to the banging noise springing up in the front of my car. Obviously something was wrong, something was very wrong.

I pulled off to the side of the road, parking and all, and grabbed the flashlight from the back. Jessica rolled her eyes at me, as if to say: Well isn't this wonderful, Mike. You've got us stuck on the side of the road.

"Just stay here, Jess. I'll be back in a second." I waited for the one car that was following us to pass, before I hopped out and popped the hood.

"Be careful, Mike." She called from inside the car. She rested her head up against the window, staring blankly out the windshield. It was obvious I was on my own again. Left to fend for myself. Jessica was too much of a girly girl to know anything about car trouble.

I took out my flashlight, flipping the light on. I wasn't entirely sure what I was supposed to be looking for, but I choose to just look over everything until I found something that didn't look too good.

My glance over the car parts halted suddenly, when I – though I'm not an expert – saw something that looked out of place. The wire to the battery of the car had been chewed clean through, as if by an animal.

I reached my hand towards the cut wires, only to retract my hand abruptly, when a mouse sprinted from the car. The vermin jumped up on my hand, running up my arm and onto my head. I let out a cry, waving my hands above my head, trying to get rid of the pest.

"Mike! Mike!" Jessica was moving her way from the car hastily. She barreled her way to me, shouting out my name. I shook my body frantically, attempting to shake the mouse from my head. If I hated the nickname, Mikey, I hated mice even more.

"Jess, just come back in the car!" I said through my panicked expression. It was my one attempt to be a noble gentleman. I was going to save the girl from mouse.

She noticed it then. "What is _that_!?" She screeched, pointing at the mouse running up and down my body. I turned away from her, trying to protect her from the vermin. I was still shaking my body, but I was failing.

Jessica was backing her way away from the car, making her way back towards the passenger's side door, when another mouse leaped from the car onto her. Her scream was unbelievably loud. Her hair was quaking wildly, as she did her very best to remove the mouse that was dashing through her hair.

She was quivering so much that she fell backwards into the weeds next to the car. Her scream this time was – if it were even possible – louder than the one that preceded it. She rolled a bit in the weeds, kicking and flailing her legs. It was, honestly, kind of comical to watch such a popular and pretty girl squirming in the dirt. Though Jessica did deserve to be the mud for everything she'd done to people.

I waved my arms around, finally tossing the mouse from my head. I gave myself a quick shake just to rid myself of the feeling of little feet running over my body, before racing over to help Jess. I swiftly located the mouse on her right arm, grabbed it and let it free in the woods next to the car.

I lent Jess my hand and lifted her up to her feet. She grumbled something under breath I couldn't understand, while she turned herself and stomped back to the car. A huff of air came through her lips in a rush, as she sat down in the passenger's seat.

"I can't go now." She crossed her arms with a face of anger. "I can't go to Bella's party with those hot Cullen boys looking like this." She gestured towards her disheveled outfit and mussed up hair.

"What," I started, "what about me?" I pointed to myself.

She waved her hand at me and shook her head. "Mike, I should have guessed. This is just another ploy to get Bella to like you. You make me look horrible, then you take me to a party of Bella's. And she like sees us, and realizes that she looks _so_ much better than me. And then she totally puts the moves on you, knowing that you'd go for her. It's so simple."

"That's not it at all, Jess." I threw my hands in the air. "I didn't plan this! Do you really think I want mice running around the workings of my car?"

"I don't know." She pouted her lips, glaring at me. "You would do anything for her. You're so desperate. It's pathetic." Her facial expression was one of disgust. I tried to ignore her again.

"I'm not pathetic." I closed the hood of the car and strolled my way back over to the driver's side door. I hopped in and locked the door behind me, when I closed it.

"Let's go." She changed the subject very rapidly. She also managed to do what I'd been trying to do, ignore the person I was stuck in the car with. "I'll call Angela and ask her to bring extra make-up and stuff. I'll redo my hair and stuff in the driveway."

"One problem," I held up my pointer finger, "the wiring is cut. We can't go anywhere." I sighed and pushed myself back into my seat. This was already turning out to be a _long_ and tiring night. All I thought I was going to be doing was wooing Bella, but now I was on car repair duty.

"Oh, well…I guess we're stuck then. Some night." She leaned against the window again.

A flood of headlights filled our car. I turned around to catch a glimpse of the suburban vehicle passing us. The car slowed down and the passenger rolled down their window, revealing Tyler. I waved politely, a smile forming on my lips as I realized this might be our way to the party.

"Need a ride." Tyler waved back at me.

I nodded. "We're having a bit of car trouble." My hand automatically gestured toward the front of the vehicle. "We've got mice."

"_Oh_," he looked as if he was in pain when I spoke, "that sucks, man. You and Jess can ride with us. If we're going to the Cullens it's probably better to be safer in numbers. You never know what we're going to find when we get there."

"Thanks," I turned to Jess and nodded towards her. "We appreciate it." We both got out of the car. I locked the doors and wrote a short note saying that I intend to call a tow truck as soon as I can, and the car will be moved.

Once we squeezed in – what I found out later was – Connor's car, the drive went very smoothly all the way to the Cullen household. And also luckily, Samantha had extra make-up and such, so Jessica was able to hold herself over until Angela could make it with her stuff.

The Cullen's home was as huge and sprawling as I imagined it would be. The glittering lights that lined the driveway were jaw dropping in themselves, but the house put me into total shock and aw. I couldn't stop staring. It was probably a good thing I wasn't drive, I was too distracted to pay attention.

I was able to say something to the group about the house, when I remembered it was _Cullen's_. He lived here. This was the place in which the being, that circled Bella like a vulture, lived and spent his days.

I was becoming increasingly sick again, but I held it all back. Bella was going to be here, that alone could get me through the night. I'd show her tonight that she was making the wrong choice being with Cullen. I'd show her tonight.

We walked our way to the front door. I took the lead. I was a leader. Bella would like that. Cullen never got involved in any activities. I was a team player. He was just lucky he was on the team.

I raised my fist and knocked forcefully. I could hear noises and footsteps shuffling on the other side of the door.

Well this night had already been pretty interesting in itself. I can only imagine what was going to happen when the night _truly _began.

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Author's Note: Thank you for reading. I hope you're eyes aren't burning, because I know mine are... P.S. I don't like this story.


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